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The indie origins of the Portal 2 'Potato Sack' ARG
For fans, the recent Portal 2 ARG began with the discovery of unexpected, hidden messages within the "Potato Sack" bundle of indie games. As it happens, the project's development also started with a mysterious missive -- to the developers of those games. "Dude, it was so rad," Alex Neuse, CEO of Bit.Trip Beat developer Gaijin Games told Joystiq. "[Valve] contacted a bunch of independent developers -- like a whole bunch. They contacted a bunch of us and said, 'Hey, we're thinking of doing something wacky up here at Valve, and we were wondering if you'd be interested in coming up here and talking to us about it.' And that was about it."%Gallery-121034%
Portal 2 available right now (happy Potato Fool's Day!)
The diligent Potato Sack players did their job, unlocking Portal 2 a bit early. The Steam version is unlockable right now. This hours-early release is the culmination of an insane ARG that's been leading players around since April 1. And maybe it didn't unlock the game days early, like we thought it would, but it has delivered one sleepless, stolen night of Portal 2 that is at least more convenient than one enabled by a midnight retail launch. Oh, and one more little bonus: those who found every secret "potato" hidden within the Potato Sack games reportedly got a "Golden Potato" award -- and the complete Valve game collection. Including Portal 2.
Portal 2 unlocking early -- if you play the Potato Sack games long enough
If you thought the Portal 2 countdown clock would lead to an early release of the game, you were right about the concept, but maybe your timeline was a bit off. The countdown, upon elapsing, opened a site for "GLaDOS@Home," which claims to need your computational cycles to facilitate an early release of Portal 2. Functionally, that means "the more time people spend playing the Potato Sack games, the sooner before its April 19 release date Portal 2 will come out." Don't have the Potato Sack -- a collection of 13 indie games, recently updated with Portal-themed content -- yet? Get it here for $38.65, And think of it this way -- you cleared your weekend to play Portal, so now you have time for these other 13 games.
ARGhh, Portal 2 alternate reality game has final exam
(Musical accompaniment for this post) The Portal 2 ARG is coming to an end, but GLaDOS, much like Senor Chang, can never die. Also, she has something planned with a final countdown. The Aperture Science page seems to imply that once the "final test" is solved Portal 2 will be unlocked early on Steam: "Tomorrow you will be given the final test. Then it will be entirely in your hands when I am freed." Despite feeble math skills and general ineptitude with time, we've calculated that the countdown ends at noon Eastern (9AM Pacific, 5PM UK). Our advice? FAIL THE TEST, because some of us have to work today. Update: There are more cryptic details being posted on the Valve forums that lead to the idea of an early PC release. "TWO HOURS TO NEXT TUESDAY (UNLESS OTHERWISE REDETERMINED)." Add that little log to the ARG fires, you monsters. [Thanks, Mavus]
Portal 2 now pre-loading; Portal 2 stuff unlocking in Potato Sack games
The countdown to next week's release of Portal 2 continues and, in this day of digitally delivered games, there's no better sign that it's really happening than this: the pre-load. For those of you eager to return to Aperture Science and reacquaint yourselves with GLaDOS as soon as possible, buy the game on Steam and get that client downloaded. Speaking of downloading things through Steam, if you purchased the Potato Sack bundle –remember, "13 hit indie games, 75% off"? – you can expect many of those to prompt you for an update. You see, Valve and those sneaky indie devs have been planting Portal 2 hints all over those games; today, things get a little more explicit. Bit.Trip Beat (above) has a Portal 2-themed level, GLaDOS and all; Killing Floor (gallery below) has some Portal 2-themed environments; and The Ball has seven new "test chambers" featuring the "Edgeless Artifact Cube." Also updated: Wonderful End of the World, Cogs, Defense Grid, RUSH, AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, AudioSurf, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Toki Tori. You'll find a video of Bit.Trip Beat in action after the break. Got a video of another updated game? Share it in the comments and we'll update this post.%Gallery-121038%
Valve ARG puzzle looks like a diving bell
Last night, we received a curious image emailed from Valve boss Gabe Newell: a tiny puzzle piece with some kind of code inscribed on it. Other sites received the same image or a different one, forming a set of nine square tiles (though one is still missing) that when fit together and inverted (of course) form the image above. The collective sleuths of the Valve ARG Wiki are certain enough to declare: "It is a bathysphere." When inverted, the numbers form ASCII code, which has been translated (as best as possible) on the wiki into a rambling message that doesn't yet explain the image. Also of note, all of the puzzle pieces' filenames (e..g, "berets or scoop," "bee torso crops," "sorbet coopers" and "sort eco probes") are anagrams of each other. One particularly intriguing combination that's not been used -- "reboot process" -- could be the missing piece, as well as a reference to GLaDOS, which in turn could neatly tie this apparent ARG to marketing for this month's Portal 2. (This puzzle is just one part of an extensive game orchestrated by Valve that began on April Fools' Day -- catch up here.) Of course, if the image is of a bathysphere (or diving bell), the next logical step leads us to the Borealis, an Aperture Science sea vessel first mentioned in Half-Life 2: Episode Two and speculated to be the subject of a Portal 2 Achievement. Now, if you really want to get your hopes up, you'll recall that the Borealis was also the apparent subject of early Half-Life 2: Episode Three concept art. Deep breath! Okay, now relax.
Valve Potato Sack bundle hides possible Portal 2 ARG
It would appear that Valve's "potato sack" bundle is hiding something beneath the surface, much like the hidden ARG found in Portal after Valve updated it. A wiki page chronicles all of the discovered changes so far, which include some hidden glyphs and, if Razer equipment is detected, a message that reads "1...2...3...Drop That Beat (Like An Ugly Baby)." That odd phrase, of course, translates to "Secret Message." Common speculation is that this has something to do with Portal 2 (the Razer tie-in lends credence to that). Nothing has been confirmed yet, and folks are still finding stuff -- if you discover more interesting info, feel free to contact us! [Thanks, Arslan]
